Quick run-through:
Some parents nightmare is that their kids would grow up to be just like them. We’re introduced to Baek Hee who’s just moved back to her hometown and Ok Hee, her 18 year old daughter. We meet the three men (four if you include Baek Hee’s husband) who might be her father even as Baek Hee aims to keep Ok Hee’s parentage a secret from them and us.
Top 10 Moments:
- We’re introduced to Baek Hee. She’s a faker and quite famous
The drama starts with Baek Hee doing an interview amidst the movers unpacking her stuff. She takes particular care with a painting of Shim Sa In Dang, calling her her muse and then going on into vivid detail of how she’s such an old fashioned and conservative woman (whilst wiping some soy sauce storing clay pot no less!) who agreed without complaining to her husband after he decided that they should move to the countryside (Her words sound so false you can practically hear the angels singing an hallelujah at the power of her lies). When asked what kind of doctor her doctor-husband is, she mutters under her breath that he’s a urologist and then changes the topic by saying that she wants to contribute to the enlightenment of the countryside, just like Yong Shim. The only problem being, she means Yong Shin and her slip is caught by the interviewer (Hahaha). Her interview is witnessed by Jang Mi who immediately spreads the news and soon everyone around town is relaying it to those they can that ‘that Baek Hee’ has returned. Sounds like Baek Hee is a famous one around these parts.
2. We’re introduced to Ok Hee. She loves food and is a known runaway
Baek Hee’s daughter Ok Hee is in a police cell, courtesy of her mother demanding that she stay behind bars. She’s one to take advantage of the situation however and digs into a bowl of noodles while she waits (something tells me her mother has her locked up because she’s always running away). She’s finally released and when the policeman hands her a sheet of paper and says its her addresses, she’s at first confused until a glance at it reveals it to be their new address: her mother has uprooted them without saying a word. 😆 Maybe she figured if Ok Hee knew about it, she would runaway, again.
3. We’re introduced to Doo Shik and Ki Joon. One’s now clearly successful and the other is not
Doo Shik is now married to Jang Mi (the neighbor who first spotted Baek Hee and spread the news) and took the time to dress up and look pretty for his first love Baek Hee. Of course the move is not lost on Jang Mi, his sister and the various neighbors who have all gathered around Baek Hee’s house to look in on her like she’s some animal at the zoo. Thankfully for all of them, Baek Hee hasn’t noticed them yet. They do notice when a snazzy car shows up however, and an even more snazzy man steps out of the car to approach Doo Shik. Turns out Ki Joon was a geek in school and Doo Shik used to have him fetch balls for him and his friends when they were playing. Now the tables have turned and Ki Joon is the clearly successful one whilst Doo Shik is talking about manure. To make it all complicated, Ki Joon introduces himself as Baek Hee’s husband when he bursts onto her interview unannounced and he brings all the neighbors along with him to chime in about what they know about Baek Hee. (Bring out the popcorn. This is gonna be good). Baek Hee makes matters worse by pretending not to remember them, thus causing them to say all the embarrassing things she’s done (stories that clearly show that she’s not the meek and mild woman she’s been portraying herself to be) just to jog her memory. Ki Joon just stands in a corner and laughs. When Jang Mi keeps pressing her luck, Baek Hee steps closer, raises her index finger (in the pose everyone in the village used to describe her when telling everyone else the news that she’s back) and insists that Jang Mi doesn’t know. Recognizing the threat, Jang Mi claims that she must have been mistaken and flees.
4.We’re introduced to Bum Ryong. The ladies like him. The old ladies that is.
And the best part is, we’re introduced to him as he captains a ferry to the tune of Celine Dion’s ‘My heart will go on’ a la, Titanic (Rofl). He’s so full of himself that he goes on to call himself the most handsome captain and begins to fill the airways with talk about how special the island is. His monologue is interrupted by Ok Hee’s rails about her exile and when they reach the docks, she purposefully jumps off the boat so she wouldn’t come close to him, and mouths the word ‘pervert’ at him. He’s barely had enough to deal with the words when an older woman pinches his butt (Hahahaha). Turns out she’s always taking the ferry just for the chance to molest him. Jong Myung sees the sight early enough and informs him that Baek Hee wouldn’t be pleased. The name hits him hard, but Bum Ryong doesn’t react and instead walks away, although Jong Myung mutters that Bum Ryong is guilty of ruining a woman’s life for the sake of love (I’m guessing the woman in question is Baek Hee?)
5. Ki Joon throws some digs and Bum Ryong sees a familiar face.
Still laughing at the hilarity Baek Hee’s coming back home caused, Ki Joon asks if she’s missed home and that certain someone in particular (I’m guessing Bum Ryong). Baek Hee merely snaps back that they should maintain the charade of a happy family life till Ok Hee’s married. Plus, she would be paying Ki Joon’s debt (so not as successful as we once thought). Bum Ryong who is being spoken off at the moment, meets a herbal cigarette smoking Ok Hee and is convinced that he’s seen her somewhere before (of course you have! You dated her mother!), and a grumbling Ok Hee puts off her cigarette in combustible compost (that will not end well).
6. Ok Hee comes home
After making her way to the address, Ok Hee charges into the house, stopping to respectfully greet Ki Joon first, and then heading straight to the kitchen to battle with Baek Hee who she accuses of not giving her a heads-up about the move. Baek Hee tosses right back at her the fact that if she hadn’t run away, she would have known. When Ok Hee asks why they’re in the countryside, Baek Hee informs her that just like Ok Hee always comes back home when she’s broke and hungry, Baek Hee is back in her old house because she’s feeling the same way. She warns her daughter not to do anything that would embarrass her, except that would be highly unlikely because there’s no WiFi access or internet cafe in her new neighborhood (Wonder what the girl would do the minute she’s bored). Ok Hee’s search for internet access is halted when the fire alarm is sounded as the countryfolk discovered the fire that had started at the compost. When they find the cigarette butt, they assume that it’s Baek Hee that’s responsible because the last fire they’d started and been caused by her smoking (Ha! Like mother like daughter). When Ok Hee admits to being the one who smoked, and everyone presses her to know who she is, she outs Baek Hee as her mother. She throws a tantrum when back at home, Baek Hee removes her room door and any semblance of privacy and is barely holding on when she gets to school and gets bullied by the mean girls (who turn out not to be mean but are just a tad bit dimwitted). The last straw breaks when the girls send her to get milk for them and grab her hair when she collects the change as payment for the errand she ran. Proving that she really is Baek Hee’s daughter, she proceeds to beat every single one of the girls that come at her (and they’re a lot).
7. Bum Ryong connects the dots
When he walks into the tail end of the fight, Bum Ryong is struck by how familiar the scene is, especially because it reminded him of exactly the way Baek Hee used to fight whilst she was in school, down to her two colored hair tone, just like Ok Hee’s sporting at the moment. She even finishes with Baek Hee’s signature ‘what are you looking at’ when she catches him looking at her. She repeats her mother’s words again when she catches him staring at her in the teachers lounge (whilst the teacher complains about wanting to find whoever founded Becky’s clique at Cheonbang High School: the clique the three known troublemaker girls belong to. Something tells me he wouldn’t have to look far. Her name will be Baek Hee). Cut to Bum Ryong who has picked up an unexpected stowaway who then hides from her mother who is very much Baek Hee. Bum Ryong then asks Jong Myung to help watch over Ok Hee who he reveals to his friend, is Baek Hee’s daughter. The news hits Jong Myung hard as he tries to calculate whether or not it’s possible that he is Ok Hee’s father (Oh this is getting very interesting). He at first disregards the possibility of that happening (based on the fact that she’s claims to be 17, not 18) until he discovers that Ok Hee like him is allergic to cats.
8. Bum Ryong is added to the list of Baek Hee’s baby daddy
After Jong Myung gets Ok Hee a job at a local supermarket, with instructions to the owner to not let Ok Hee lift anything heavy or do anything especially strenuous (awww. He’s acting like a papa), Bum Ryong hangs around the supermarket and is therefore there when the owner accuses Ok Hee of theft. Ok Hee is of course angry at the unjust accusation, especially when the woman drags her to the police station. Whilst the policemen watch the drama unfold, Bum Ryong tries to get Ok Hee to speak respectfully to the woman, then gets pissed on her behalf when the woman claims that Ok Hee has the face of a thief. Their physical reaction to the woman ‘s accusation are such mirror expressions of each other that Bum Ryong is asked whether he is Ok Hee’s father. Things get even worse when Jong Myung shows up and he too is so protective that the policemen ask if he and Bum Rong are Ok Hee’s guardians. They simply reply that they’re friends of her mother
9. Bum Ryong saves the day and Baek Hee’s secret comes out
Speaking of mother, Baek Hee ends up coming to the police station with drinks and a bowed head as she apologizes to each of the policemen and even to the woman accusing Ok Hee falsely. Ok Hee is pissed that her mother is apologizing when she did nothing wrong and stomps off. The sight affects Bum Ryong who calls Doo Shik who brings the woman’s son over to the police station. With the woman’s son in attendance, Bum Ryong tries to reason with the woman to a settlement but the woman simply wants punk Ok Hee to apologize. The use of the word punk seems to get to Baek Hee although she doesn’t do anything about it. Bum Ryong though heads to the restroom where the woman’s son is washing his hands and prods into the boy’s styled hair and his new shoes. The total cost of everything is 300 dollars (i.e. the amount the boy’s mother is accusing Ok Hee of stealing). When the boy tries to escape, Bum Ryong makes a few well placed hits that bring the boy to his knees and has him confessing to his mother (not like the woman apologizes to Ok Hee though. Witch!). With everything resolved, Baek Hee has to answer some questions to be able to take Ok Hee away. She has no problem giving her name and date of birth, although she does give her changed name. However, when it’s time for her to give Ok Hee’s name and date of birth, things get a little tricky seeing that Bum Ryong, Jong Myung and Doo Shik are all present and listening in on the conversation. Baek Hee tries to salvage the situation by writing the date herself, except she isn’t quite safe as the policeman goes on to tell her to warn her daughter as the only reason she’s getting off without being immediately arrested is because she’s 18. The minute she turns 19, it would be game over.
10. Everyone has questions for Baek Hee
After leaving the police station, Jong Myung, Bum Ryong and Doo Shik all look at Ok Hee, their thoughts running a mile a minute, but it is Bum Ryong that approaches Baek Hee and tries to bring up Ok Hee’s parentage. Baek Hee nips the conversation in the bud by telling Bum Ryong that if Ok Hee had been his child, she wouldn’t have kept her (ouch. That’s harsh!). She then leaves Bum Ryong to face Ok Hee who she’s angry at for not listening to her and trying to live quietly in the town. Ok Hee on the other hand is angry that her mother didn’t try to defend her and it was strangers who defended her instead. She tears up at the fact that her mother thinks she’s a degenerate which in turn has become how she sees herself. She calls Baek Hee out on not acting like a mother and adds that that’s the reason why whenever anyone asks her about her mother, she tells them that she doesn’t have one. She ends up hitching a ride with Bum Ryong and Baek Hee joins them as she isn’t able to catch a cab that late at night. When the radio starts to blast a song from the past, Bum Ryong and Baek Hee are taken back to a time when they were both clearly in love with each other, so in love that Bum Ryong had proposed to Baek Hee. She’d said yes then and they’d partied the night away. It was at that night as well that Doo Shik and Jong Myung had looked on in jealousy whilst Bum Ryong and Baek Hee had had fun. It’s what all three think of now as they wonder why on earth Baek Hee has a daughter that’s 18 years old. In other words, either of you could be her baby daddy?
Character I wanted to bitch slap:
Because no way is it cool for you to misjudge a child based on how she looks, call her a thief, take her to a police station, call her mother on her, insult her and then turn around and not go on your knees to apologize when you discovered that it was your son who stole the money after all. The woman deserves to be smacked. Hard.
Headache inducing moment:
There was none actually. Every minute of this episode glided by with nothing much to give me a migraine or to complain about the stupidity of people.
Alcohol Rep:
This episode’s a tall glass of Gin and Tonic. Classic in a what you see is what you get sort of way. It goes down without much effort and the hour just flies away.
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